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At the party, Carrie was encircled by women in the kitchen. Glasses in hand, contents spilling, voices growing louder, laughter and subjects overlapping. Opal Wells was reminiscing about their time together in high school history class.

“Remember how we teamed up for the presentation about Benjamin Franklin, his life and words of wisdom? I remember one of my favorites: ‘A penny saved is a penny earned.’ There was one you liked—what was it? Remember, Carrie?”

Lacey was watching carefully.

“Gosh, I don’t know, Opal.”

“We did our presentation right before—” As if she’d arrived at a cliff, Opal stopped herself cold.

Most everyone in the room knew what Opal was alluding to: “right before” Abby Hall and Erin Eddowes were murdered.

“Y’all know what?” Melissa Pruett chimed in loudly. “I saw on the news recently that Donnie Ray Hyde’s going to be executed real soon for killing Jenna Dupree in Tyler. As I recall, he was a suspect for Abby and Erin.”

“That’s right,” Grace Cox, a cousin of Sheriff Ellerd, said. “Our boys looked hard at him. But they couldn’t prove he did it.”

Lacey turned to Carrie. “Honey, I’m so sorry, this talk must be upsetting.”

“Can’t be helped. I understand.”

Carrie sipped wine as two women she didn’t know slowly shouldered their way to her.

“We wanted to welcome you home and tell you how much we admire you, Carrie.” The first woman, the one with a ponytail, touched her arm.

“Admire me?”

“For moving back for your dad, with his condition and all.”

“And for being so brave,” said the second woman, whose hair was short.

“Brave?”

“To come back when the killer’s still out there,” the woman said.

“It’s just such a shame that Abby and Erin don’t get to come back, isn’t it? They don’t get to talk about old times and show baby pictures, do they?” the ponytailed woman said, a hint of something sharp in her tone.

Without speaking, Carrie glanced to Lacey, then at the women, trying to figure out who they were.

“You promised you wouldn’t do this,” Lacey said to the women.

“Oh,” the ponytailed woman said, “forgive me, I’m Nicole Hall. Abby was my big sister.”

“And,” the second woman said, “I’m Lauren Eddowes. Erin was my cousin.”

The blood drained from Carrie’s face.

“Then again—” Nicole turned to Lauren “—I guess it wouldn’t be brave to return if you knew who the killer was, would it?”

“Not at all,” Lauren said.

Nicole turned on Carrie. “You know what happened that day, don’t you, Carrie?”

She began shaking her head. “No, I don’t. I can’t remember anything.”

“All this time, Carrie, you’ve known,” Lauren said.

“You need to tell everyone the truth!” Nicole said.

Lauren thrust her phone toward Carrie, showing her a photo of Abby and Erin. “Let’s go down memory lane, Carrie.”

“No, please.”

Lacey inserted herself between Carrie and the women.

“Put your phone down. Back off, girls, that’s enough. Come on.”

Nicole and Lauren moved away just as Luke emerged, standing next to Carrie, catching the wake of tension.

“Everything all right?” he asked.

Carrie nodded and took a sip of wine, then quietly she said to him: “I would like to leave now.”

Minutes later, after saying their goodbyes, they were in their SUV.

Driving home, Carrie looked through her window, watching houses and streets floating by, the air heavy with her silence until Luke spoke.

“We knew moving home wouldn’t be easy. But we’ll get through it.”

He turned to Carrie, who was now looking straight ahead.

“Maybe…” she started. “Maybe we can make this move temporary, just until…”

“Until what?”

“Until Dad—” She turned to the window. “I don’t know,” she said, brushing the tears rolling down her face.